Saturday, April 9, 2016

MobiltyLab: Filling up seats in cars: The future of driving

Filling up seats in cars: The future of driving

Every day, millions and millions of car seats are shuttled through cities and communities, completely empty. Within them lies untapped potential for behavioral changes that could make our transportation system more efficient, less polluting, and cheaper.

Sharing rides – bringing back the once-popular carpool option – has become easier and easier as attitudes and technology change. By moving a few commuters into those empty seats and getting their cars off the highways, cities can start to see much larger reductions in rush-hour congestion.

With ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, people have demonstrated a growing willingness to accept rides from strangers in exchange for a flexible transportation option. The growing ubiquity of smartphones means that in most urban areas, getting a shared ride is only a matter of opening the right app. And the amount of data on people’s driving and commuting habits (think Waze) now available to developers means that pairing up similar commutes is far simpler for companies.

We spoke with a number of transportation experts and companies about where they see ridesharing going as these trends continue, and as autonomous vehicles enter roadways. Watch the full video above.